Barnes leads unit as coordinator

By Rick Scoppe-Sports Editor

Published: Friday, November 30, 2012 at 11:00 AM.

Make no mistake about it, Barnes is the boss. But he’s the kind of boss who wants to hear everybody’s opinion and then he makes a decision based on his staff’s input and his own. He appreciates McLeod’s experience and a work ethic that includes his critique of film of the next opponent.

“He brings a lot to the table,” Barnes said. “He’s like a defensive coordinator.”

McLeod said he and Barnes, as well as Dempsey and Whitehead, come up with a defensive game plan as “a collaboration of all of us.”

“We just work well together,” he added, pointing to the game plan in Southwest’s 35-13 win at James Kenan in the NCHSAA 1-AA East Regional final in which McLeod said all four defensive assistants had a hand in the scheme.

Along with, McLeod added, “a little twist” from Padgett himself.

Some coaches might have a problem with the role reversal McLeod finds himself in with Barnes, but McLeod insisted in his dozen years at Southwest he could think of only one “issue” between the friends.

“And it didn’t have anything to do with football,” McLeod said. “I wasn’t his boss (at
Dixon
). He just worked with me. (Now) if we’ve had a disagreement, we have disagreed to agree. We’re going to sit down and work it out. The thing is he’s got to make that call Friday night. He’s got to be sure of what he’s doing.

SouthwestHigh School football is known for its ubiquitous and quotable coach Phil Padgett and a bulldozer running attack.

But what about its defense?

Oh, yeah, right, the Stallions usually have a solid bunch who’ll hit you and can run, but — quick now — name the last great Southwest defensive player, and exactly who’s running the show on that side of the ball?

A guy named Tommy Barnes, whom you might know more readily as the boys’ basketball coach at Southwest or, if you know your history, as a 1,000-yard running back at RichlandsHigh School in the early 1980s.

At practice you can identify the 50-year-old Barnes with your eyes closed by his high-pitched voice that resonates from end zone to end zone and into the woods beyond. Open your eyes and he’s the ultra-energetic guy who is forever encouraging and cajoling the Stallions — and occasionally penalizing them with up-downs for not giving their all.

“Tommy’s definitely the more vocal motivator,” Padgett said.

Barnes put it another way.

“I’m probably the slave driver of ‘em all,” said Barnes, a characterization he later backed away from slightly. “I’m getting on them. I know the kids probably get tired of me sometimes. I’m the one that pushes them and makes them do what they’re supposed to and make sure they’re where they’re supposed to be, and the rest they’re kind of laid back to a certain degree. But I’m the grinder of it all.

“When I first started coaching I didn’t have the assistants that I needed, but as the years went by coach has brought in guys that helped out and that showed me some things, and that helped me mature. I don’t know about X’s and O’s a whole lot, but I do know you’ve got to be fundamentally sound.

“If you don’t tackle well, if you don’t get off blocks, if you don’t have the desire to get to the ball, it ain’t going to make a difference what you’re in because you’re not going to get the job done. I believe you’ve got to be fundamentally sound and you’ve got to be simple and you just got to let them play.”

As Barnes pointed out, it’s a team effort on defense, starting with “good athletes” and then adding “good guys, good coaches” who ably assist Barnes and are a big reason why the Stallions will play Saturday for the NCHSAA 1-AA state title against SwainCounty.

It is, however, an interesting mix on the sidelines.

You have two ex-head coaches — one of whom Barnes worked under — and a third (Charlie Dempsey) who was an offensive lineman at East Carolina and coaches Southwest’s defensive front these days.

Barnes has never been a head football coach and insisted he has no desire to be one, although he was the acting head coach this year with Padgett laid up after a medical procedure and having to listen on the radio to the Stallions’ 24-20 win over East Columbus on Sept. 17.

Barnes, who oversees the secondary as well as being defensive coordinator, was David McLeod’s defensive coordinator in the mid 1980s, and today McLeod is Barnes’ right-hand man with the Stallions.

McLeod, who oversees the linebackers and is the staff’s (combined) version of Siskel and Ebert when it comes to critiquing film, has been the head coach at Central Harnett High and defensive coordinator at Jacksonville High as well as serving as a graduate assistant at ECU.

Jeff Whitehead, who coaches defensive ends, is a former Dixon head coach as well.

And just for good measure the guy whom McLeod communicates with from the press box via the headsets (Tommy Gagnon) played for him at Dixon.

“They’ve done a fantastic job for many, many years for me,” Padgett said. “We’ve got several (coaches) you could say are unsung. Obviously, the head coach gets get too much credit as it is. But there’s no doubt about it, they do a lot of the dirty work that no one knows about that they just think happens on Friday nights. Believe me, it doesn’t.”

While the defensive staff is a foursome, arguably the relationship between Barnes and the 51-year-old McLeod is the key.

“They fit together like a puzzle,” Padgett said.

Make no mistake about it, Barnes is the boss. But he’s the kind of boss who wants to hear everybody’s opinion and then he makes a decision based on his staff’s input and his own. He appreciates McLeod’s experience and a work ethic that includes his critique of film of the next opponent.

“He brings a lot to the table,” Barnes said. “He’s like a defensive coordinator.”

McLeod said he and Barnes, as well as Dempsey and Whitehead, come up with a defensive game plan as “a collaboration of all of us.”

“We just work well together,” he added, pointing to the game plan in Southwest’s 35-13 win at James Kenan in the NCHSAA 1-AA East Regional final in which McLeod said all four defensive assistants had a hand in the scheme.

Along with, McLeod added, “a little twist” from Padgett himself.

Some coaches might have a problem with the role reversal McLeod finds himself in with Barnes, but McLeod insisted in his dozen years at Southwest he could think of only one “issue” between the friends.

“And it didn’t have anything to do with football,” McLeod said. “I wasn’t his boss (at Dixon). He just worked with me. (Now) if we’ve had a disagreement, we have disagreed to agree. We’re going to sit down and work it out. The thing is he’s got to make that call Friday night. He’s got to be sure of what he’s doing.

“I tell you what’s funny now. We’re so different. He’s black. I’m white. (But) we think a lot alike when it comes to football. There’s been many times we’ve looked at each other and said, ‘That’s so weird because that’s exactly what I was thinking.’

“It’s as if we can read each other’s mind. We think a lot alike. We’re a good team.”